PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM
A. Administrative 1.Title Proposal to encoding New Testament editorial characters in the UCS 2. Requester's name Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Project (University of California, Irvine) 3. Requester type Expert contribution 4. Submission date: 2002-08-21 5. Requester's reference 6. Completion This is a complete proposal. Additional information may be provided upon request
B. Technical - General 1b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block: Name of the existing block: Greek and Coptic 2. Number of characters in proposal: 11 3. Proposed category Category B.2 4. Proposed Level of Implementation: Level 1 5a. Character names provided? Yes. 5b. Character names in accordance with guidelines Yes. 5c. Character shapes reviewable? Yes. 6a. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font for publishing the standard? TLG Project 6b. Fonts currently available. A number of Greek Unicode fonts are already available and listed at: http://www.tlg.uci.edu/help/UnicodeTest.html. The proposed characters are included in the LaserGreek® font distributed by Linguists’ Software. 6c. Font format True Type 7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) provided? Yes 7b. Are published examples of use of proposed characters attached? Yes. 8. Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing No. C. Technical - Justification 1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? No. 2. Has contact been made to members of the user community? Yes.The TLG has been in contact with experts in the field of Biblical Studies. We have consulted with the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (University of Muenster, Westfalia, Germany), especially with Dr. Luc Herren, Editor of the forthcoming digital version of the Nestle-Aland edition of the New Testament and Dr. Klaus. The proposal has also been reviewed by Dr. James Adair, General Editor of TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, and Tim Feeney, organizer of the Greek New Testament Project. 3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters: Scholarly community. 4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare) These characters are used in the Nestle Critical Apparatus of the New Testament and other secondary sources about it or derived from it. 5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community? Yes. Characters are present in the Nestle and Aland (UBS) edition and used extensively by scholars in the field. A new digital version of the Nestle Aland edition is currently under preparation. General references provided in attached bibliography. 6. After giving due consideration to the principles in Principles and Procedures document, must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP? Yes. If YES, is a rationale provided? Accordance with the Roadmap. 7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)? Contiguous. 8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character sequence? No. 9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either existing characters or other proposed characters? No. 10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing character? No. 11a. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences No. 12. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as control function or similar semantics? No. 13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)? No. Proposal
As the New Testament has held a central place in the West for 2,000 years, there exist myriad manuscripts with many textual variants. While a ‘Majority text’ has largely been agreed upon, it is important for scholars to be able to discuss these textual variants succinctly. The most widely used critical edition of the New Testament is the Nestle and Aland edition published by the United Bible Societies (UBS), currently in its 27th revised edition. In order to clearly and accurately represent and discuss the various textual variants in the New Testament while still leaving the text clear and readable, Nestle introduced a set of editorial characters.1 The editorial system introduced by Nestle goes far beyond a standard system of critical apparatus: rather than simply referring the reader to the footnotes, the sigla in the text show the reader instantly exactly what sort of textual variants exist. So, for instance, there are sigla to show that a word or words have been substituted with others in the textual variants; there are sigla to show that there is extra text in the variants and sigla to show that a piece of text is missing from some or all of the textual variants. A digital version of the Nestle and Aland edition is currently under preparation by the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung at the University of Muenster, Germany. In addition, these editorial characters are regularly used in a number of journals and other publications2 and have, thus, become the recognized method of annotating the New Testament. LaserGreek, one of the most popular and widely used set of Greek fonts (distributed by Linguists Software) already includes these sigla in its repertoire.
Approximately half of the editorial NT characters can currently be encoded in the Unicode Standard. There are, however, 11 sigla which cannot currently be encoded in Unicode. These are proposed below.
Bibliography
Aland, K., Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, 15th ed. (Stuttgart, 1997) Aland, K. and Aland, B., The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical
1 Nestle, Nestle, Aland (1963) *64 Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1989), David M., & Van Groningen B.A., Papyrological Primer, 4th ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1965).
Modern New Testament Editorial Characters Table of Characters Proposed
Number Character Name Unicode Comment TLG Documentation Modern New Testament Editorial Sigla Similar to
10 Transposition Marker p. 241
11 Opening Transposition Bracket p. 241
2 E.g. New Testament Studies, Journal of Biblical Literature, Novum Testamentum, etc. 1 Substitution Marker Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 46
2 Repeat Substitution Marker Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the start of a single word where an alternative reading is given in the apparatus criticus. If there is a second alternative reading in one verse, this character is used instead of character 1 (see above) Example 1 Matthew 17.25
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 46 3. Opening Substitution Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the start of a sequence of words where an alternative reading and is given in the apparatus criticus. Example 1 Matthew 23.30
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 64
4 Closing Substitution Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the end of a sequence of words where an alternative reading is given in the apparatus criticus. This bracket is used together with Character 3 (see above). Example 1 Matthew 23.30
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 64 5. Repeat Opening Substitution Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the start of a sequence of words where an alternative reading is given in the apparatus criticus. If there is a second alternative reading in one verse, this character is used instead of Character 3. Example 1 Luke 12.56
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 190
6. Repeat Closing Substitution Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the end of a sequence of words where an alternative reading is given in the apparatus criticus. If there is a second alternative reading in one verse, this character is used instead of Character 4. Example 1 Luke 12.56.
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 190 7. Interpolation Marker Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at a point in the text where another version has a longer text. The further text is given in the apparatus criticus. Example 1 Mathew 17.11
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 45
8. Repeat Interpolation Marker Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at a point in the text where another version has a longer text. The further text is given in the apparatus criticus. If there is a second piece of interpolated text in one verse, this character is used instead of VII.a.7. Example 1 Matthew 17.26
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 46 9. Transposition Marker Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the start of a single word which has been transposed. The transposition is explained in the apparatus criticus. This character is new to this editorial system and will be introduced in the forthcoming new edition of the United Bible Societies Novum Testamentum Graece. Example 1 This character is not yet in use.
10. Opening Transposition Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the start of a sequence of words when the words are preserved in differert order in a part of the tradition. The transposition is explained in the apparatus criticus. Example 1 Matthew 23.36
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 64
11. Closing Transposition Bracket Sign Similar Unicode Beta Code Count
Definition and comments This character is placed at the end of a sequence of words when the words are preserved in differert order in a part of the tradition. The transposition is explained in the apparatus criticus. Example 1 Matthew 23.36
Nestle, E., Nestle, E. & Aland, K., Novum Testamentum Graece 25th edn. (London, 1963) 64